Neuroscientist Stephen Hicks can give sight to people who are almost blind

This article was taken from the April 2013 issue
of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print
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Neuroscientist Stephen Hicks can give sight to people
who are almost blind -- those who can see a hand moving in front of their face
but can't count fingers. "We have designed a pair of computerised
glasses that can make the world clearer for people who are legally
blind," says Hicks, 37, who works at the Oculab at Oxford
University. Hicks built a prototype of the bionic glasses in 2011
and since then has tested eight iterations. The current one has two
cameras, one on each frame, which provide stereo vision and a 90
degree field of view; a transparent OLED screen displays
images, like an augmented-reality
screen; a gyroscope and accelerometer accommodate head-turning and
update the display in real time; and a specialised microprocessor
runs live image-processing algorithms.

"These algorithms make things right in front of you
easier to see: doors, signs and people become big and bright,"
Hicks explains. He says users are able to see a change within five
minutes. "Some people could see their own arms and legs, some could
identify a person moving four metres away," he says. By April,
Hicks plans to have launched a startup called Assisted Vision to
manufacture and distribute the glasses to 150,000 people around the
country.